A plane’s aisle seat is for cynics

By B.R.

GULLIVER was just reading about Ryanair’s decision to shorten the window of time in which customers can check in before a flight, from a week to four days. The idea is to give those who are prepared to pay to reserve a particular seat more chance of success. (Pony up, and four days’ check-in time becomes a week again.)

That got him to thinking why anyone would pay to reserve a specific seat on Ryanair, given that the best ones—exit seats and the like—are sold separately. It must be people who are desperate to ensure they sit either in the aisle or by the window. This realisation then demanded its own debate on which is preferable.

It goes without saying that no one wants to be stuck in the middle seat. When travelling alone it means you have two strangers’ elbows and knees to combat. Flying en famille is just as bad. Gulliver’s young daughter insists on the window, so sitting in the middle row means hours of reading her books rather than his own. Worse, it means virtually no chance of plugging himself into some Alice Coltrane, closing his eyes and drifting off.

It occurred to Gulliver that the older he gets, the more he prefers to sit in the aisle seat. And this thought saddened him. The window seat is for those who retain a sense of adventure about travel. It is for those who, no matter how many times they may have flown, hold on to a sense of wonderment as they hurtle down the runway and watch the ground disappear beneath them; for those who cherish that sense of excitement as they descend, nose against the pane, into the blinking lights of a never-before-visited city; whose hearts leap as they stare out across an ocean and spy a lonely atoll. That, after all, is why five-year-olds insist on sitting there.

The aisle seat, in contrast, is for those who value utility. It is the seat in which it is easiest to stretch your legs; to get up and wander to the toilet. It is the position for those who like to grab their bags from the locker and beat the queue off the plane. Gulliver tried to think back over his truly memorable flights. (Memorable for the right reason, that is, not because the turbulence was terrifying.) And he remembered sitting transfixed as he flew over an endless Sahara for the first time; arriving into Rio de Janeiro on a domestic route, as the flight path took passengers over foothills teeming with life and past Christ the Redeemer’s nose; and looking down in awe on jagged, snowy Alps.

Needless to say, on all of those occasions your blogger was sitting in the window seat. No doubt he has missed out on plenty of unforgettable sights in his desire to maintain easy access to the loo.

Like every aspect of travel, it turns out that there has been research done on this very topic. And it seems that the more that you fly, the more likely you are to prefer the aisle seat. (Although the window seat still comes top.) Life in the air can make wizened cynics of us. Next time Gulliver flies, he is now determined to do so with his face pressed against the pane, looking out in wonder. Although he will probably stop short of paying Ryanair £8 ($10.80) to ensure the pleasure.